Ravenloft 04.0 - New Allegiance
Alefina and Bronke spent the night in the burgomaster's mansion with the brothers Simon and Aurel. In the morning, the two gnomes went downstairs to find that Aurel was already awake, having made a breakfast of plain oatmeal for everyone. As they ate, they spoke to the reserved, quiet man about various topics, namely why Lord Ardelian had taken an interest in him and how he might escape his grasp. Aurel had few ideas: he couldn't think of any reason further than infatuation, to which the other two agreed that he did share some physical traits with the dolls they had met the previous day. As for escape, he half-joked that he might be able to cut off his face, though he didn't want to resort to that. Eventually they were joined by Simon, who had regained some of his pleasant attitude after the events of the previous day. He explained that he and Aurel had to flee the town sooner rather than later: their home could not withstand nightly assaults for much longer and the townsfolk would not tolerate the danger of sheltering someone Ardelian wanted. Simon knew that crossing the border was futile, but he considered the merits of attempting to flee to an ancient fortified church that was supposed to be beyond Covasna's neighboring village of Vaslui. Aurel was silent; he seemed loathe to take action but no one pressed him for his opinion. Bronke and Alefina seemed resolved in helping Simon and Aurel, though they couldn't neglect their earliest purpose. The reason they were in this mess at all was because of the woman in the bar, Eve Devine, who had directed them here. They were determined to find this Natalia woman and get some answers from her, deeply suspecting that they had been tricked. Simon gave them directions to the abandoned town quarter where he had heard that the newcomer Isabelle had taken shelter, wishing them safe travels. Bronke asked him about the strange ravens that they had seen the previous day, and Simon casually explained that all ravens and wolves were spies for Ardelian, watching and reporting back to him the happenings in his lands. When Bronke asked about other birds, Simon shrugged that there were no other types of birds in Covasna. With that bit of unsettling information, the pair set out. As they left, Aurel seemed to mutter some sort of blessing to them under his breath. The pair made their way down the almost-empty streets. Reaching the plaza, Bronke caught sight of a pair of ravens milling about on an eavestrough. Using his skills as a ranger, they called down the pair of birds, feeding them a goodberry for their behaviour. Scrutiny revealed nothing magical or strange about the birds, who seemed most interested in getting more food from the gnome, and Bronke released them, slightly less concerned about being spied upon than earlier. Eventually the pair found themselves in the abandoned quarter. Alefina began to inspect each house front carefully, looking for signs of habitation; Bronke still seemed more concerned with birds than anything else. One home in particular stood out as being sealed and fortified, so she made her way to the front lawn after checking the area for obvious traps. As she called out, Bronke noticed a crossbow stick out from a gap between some boards in a front window. A woman began to shout at them to go away, which devolved into a shouted conversation between the two parties commiserating on how awful this place was. The woman refused to grant them entry until the gnomes mentioned the name 'Natalia Devine', whereupon she immediately shushed them and begged for silence. The two approached the window and, after vaguely confirming that she was indeed Natalia, they mentioned the phrase that Eve had told them and passed her the note they had been given. The paper was pulled through the crack in the window; moments later, the door opened and a dark skinned, exhausted woman gestured them in quickly. Fearing spies still, the three went down into the cellar to discuss. Once fairly assured of their privacy, Natalia, in a jumbled rush fueled by exhaustion and adrenaline, related her story. She was from a town in southern Tinoco where she struggled to help support her mother and siblings, often resorting to thievery to make ends meet. Not long ago, she had been approached by three women calling themselves the Devine Sisters. They told her about how one of her ancestors had belonged to their organization and because of that, she was eligible to join. All she had to do was run one mission, rob one person, and they would make sure that her and all her family would be lavishly taken care of for the rest of their lives. Natalia agreed. The magics that they cast stripped Natalia of her surname such that she could remember it only ever being 'Devine'; with that, she was sent to Covasna. They didn't tell her exactly what it was that she would be looking for, but they did mention that she would be robbing Lord Ardelian, the vampire king: any information she might have would be a liability, as he could easily rip it from her mind. They assured her that they would send help with more information and told her to keep her head down and, above all, do not let Ardelian learn her name. According to the note Natalia had just read, the two gnomes were the promised help. Alefina and Bronke were more than a bit frustrated at how they had been waylaid into this mess with even less information than Natalia. However, Natalia bargained with them: the item she apparently had to steal was the only way to break through the barrier around Covasna to escape. If they could help her, then the three of them could get out of Covasna alive, and she swore to make sure that the pair of them would be more than amply paid for their efforts: after all, infinity money split three ways was still infinite. Judging Natalia to be on the up-and-up and in just as much of a sticky situation as themselves, the three agreed to work together to find a way out. Alefina mentioned what Boots had told her while they had been travelling: one of the aelurians at Cat's Eye Lake was a seer of some sort, who might be able to tell them about what it was they were looking for. Deciding that that was as good a place to begin as any, Bronke and Alefina decided that they would first return to Simon and see if there was any way they could look through old town records for useful maps or information about whatever this mysterious item they sought might be. Natalia wished them luck, preferring to stay in hiding. The gnomes agreed to meet her back there when they were ready to go. After a quick stop by the burgomaster's mansion, Simon gave the key to the town hall to the pair of them and gave them permission to look through everything: no one would be there with the town under such duress. As the two walked down the street, they crossed paths with a lanky, older gentleman wearing glasses and walking with a distinctive cane topped with a bright green crystal. The man gave them a curious look and stopped them, mentioning that he did not recognize them in the slightest. He misidentified them as hobbits, to which Bronke sighed that he had gotten closer than most. The man introduced himself as Dominic, a local wizard. Bronke was immediately off-put by him as he gave some rather blatant sympathetic opinions regarding the vampires and the turning over of Aurel to end the attacks on the village. However, Alefina was rather pleased to make the acquaintance of someone who claimed to be a wizard powerful enough to teleport between the villages, and who seemed to be rather intelligent if not an inventor himself. Dominic, for his part, seemed thrilled to meet an honest-to-goodness artificer, lamenting that the villages here were terribly underdeveloped. After tossing some ideas regarding infrastructure back and forth, Alefina asked how she might be able to get in touch with him in the future; he considered this for a moment before handing her a Sending Stone, telling her that he wouldn't do this for just anyone, but he was interested in hearing more of her ideas about improving the local living conditions. With that, he bid them adieu as he walked down the street, tossing out one last entreaty to tell Simon to just let his brother go to the castle. The pair made their way to the town hall, but found little of use within the reams of old hand-written papers other than a map of the local area. Category:Ravenloft